Futuristic ℋ℮їґṧ: SIGMA (Sci-Fi/Powers/Interstellar Warfare RP)

[Henrypika]

Katherine

I looked at Miller, having the sense to paint embarrassment on my face for the fact that the flame that was supposed to come out of the tip of the cigarette instead blew up the roll. Although, that could make for a mischievous way to take out enemies...

I shook out such thoughts out of my mind, as Miller gave her verbal acceptance to my request to join her Fireteam. "Thank you, and uhh..." I turned towards the person scavenging whose cigarette I blew up moments ago, hand on the back of my head, "Sorry about your cig."

Just then, I heard a yell coming from the reactor, sounding like Joachim, though muffled or censored by middleman censoring software in my earpiece, which I had no reason to disbelieve, and then an unsure response to Miller's message. Sounds like someone is also pissed about the possible retreat order. Glad I'm not the only one, but it's good to make sure he's actually doing okay and not taking more blows from more enemies. "You okay there Joe?"

Though we were inside the relatively soundproof hangar, plus the vacuum of space outside, I was surprised to hear fighters on a fly-by maneuver, most likely to signify that they're still alive or that reinforcements have come.

 

[Pequeno Burraidh]

(I'll try to get a post up soon, been having internet issues at home, getting a new service provider and should be good by the end of the week.)

 

[Trappy]

Daelen

Joachim and I moved down a dim-lighted corridor towards Miller and Katherine's position. Lights flickered above our heads, casings, magazines and corpses littered the floor. She asked us to take care of the remaining Smierc, which we gladly did. However, I did notice my friend Joachim was a bit extreme at doing that. He got carried away, brutally hacking the limbs off those aliens like an experienced butcher chopping up some nice, juicy steak. To say frankly, he looked like a mad man. Either he was showing off, like he usually do, being all cold-cool and brutal, or he is mad. Knowing him, I guessed it was the latter. I, on the other hand, prefer a less interactive way. As much as I would enjoy brutally flaying these Smierc and proudly decorate my armour with their skin for what they did to me, personally, and to others, Miller and Katherine appeared to be in trouble, and so I wanted to rush to their position as fast as I could. I moved on, leaving Joachim and his butcher practice, but stopped and waited for the man to catch up at a point, where I used my 'shield' to hack off some armour plates from the dead Smierc and looted them for some extra grenades and mags.

Joachim was finally done practicing with his machete. I figured he would make a wonderful butcher if this war didn't break out. Hell, he would be a sane man, and suddenly I found such a picture so hard to imagine. In the end, I couldn't see what he would be like if he was sane. But enough of that. Joachim stopped, again, and took his time, again, with some Berserker choking for air, drowning in his own blood with a large cut on his throat, but it was not deep enough to grant him a swift death, instead, Joachim gave it to him. We then proceeded towards the ladies' position, where we find that Miller took some shots. Fortunately, her vital organs are untouched. I handed over my medkit so she could be patched up.

I kneeled down, gently helping the wounded lady up on her feet, before hearing something irritating on comms.

"Folks... I think we just lost New Krona. New Union High Command has ordered an evacuation, and we'll be taking care of evacuating District 12-A..."

I closed my eyes, grunted in disgust, swore in anger and signed in disappointment. Too much for New Union Command's 'second try'. Shit went down before any operation was commenced. Smierc ships outta nowhere and our ships were boarded. Now we are retreating. But no, nonono. It wasn't some strategic retreat or anything. It was a humiliating defeat, they got the upper hand, and now those bastards are ordering a retreat from the capital world of New Krona. Politics isn't in my list professions, but I figured the unrest level would go way off the scale after this.

My train of thoughts came to a halt, as Joachim suddenly yelled, spooking everyone around. The man didn't take the retreat order very well, I assumed. My headache returned, and it tormented me. Joachim's yell probably brought it back. Fuck. I walked off at a turn, leaving my friend. It was best to give him some space and time, I guessed. That, and with this headache, I thought I would just pull his eyeballs out of the sockets and forced them down his throat to shut him up. Oh, the man was fine, it was just me, I needed some space.

The corridor was quiet, with only the zapping noises of broken machinery and distant murmurs of talking, yelling and even sobbing. Bullet holes and scorch marks littered the walls while pools of blood and Smierc body and life-support fluids remained on the floor after people took away the corpses. I thought about what these guys would think when they cleaned up the gigantic corpse of The Unstoppable. We sure gave them a dirty mess. I chuckled at the thought of that, by the smile vanished off my face in a split second due to the torturing pain. Couldn't sleep very well the other nights. I always had to take drugs ever since I joined up with the New Union. Somehow cuddling in the middle of an endless nuclear winter or leaning back in a corner of a cargo shuttle gives me much more comfort than warm bulk beds in the Wolves' designated quarters.

I heard Joachim through the comms. Fireteam Comet was moving towards the hangars. I fixed my handy 'shield' and checked the map, which was conveniently provided by Eva, and looked for a route there. No rush, I guessed, but I couldn't wait to know what kind of mad shit we were going to dive ourselves into.

 

[Perambulation]

DM

The Commander was not pleased with the orders from NUHC. He slammed his fist onto his desktop, drawing the stares of the other officers on the NUSS Artemis III's bridge. He immediately summoned Captain Nuremberg to his private office, and stormed off. The rest of the bridge crew continued their normal operations, making sure that no Smierc Collective stragglers are still onboard from the earlier boarding attempts. One of the crew pensively looks out the bridge viewport, seeing with dismay the still present Smierc Collective attack fleet orbiting New Krona.

"Captain Nuremberg, what is the meaning of this order from NUHC? Why did you not report to me first before sending it out to the Sabre Corps Fireteams?"
"Sir, I was ordered to immediately relay the evacuation details to the Sabre Corps from the NUHC. You know I can't just defy the brass for any reasons, sir..."

The Commander breathed a loud sigh into his palms, as he looked up wearily at the nervous Captain.

"Captain, you do realize that we are talking about leaving New Krona to the Smierc Collective, right? This is the New Union's capital world we are talking about here, right smack the middle of the Core Worlds for goodness sake! If we let the Smierc Collective take New Krona from us, there is no telling how the civilians will react, not even including our own soldiers! This will be a make-or-break moment for the existence of the New Union, if New Krona falls..."
"Orders are orders sir, and I can't just defy them."

The Commander had made sure all recording software and hardware had been closed for the private meeting, but some of the bridge crew members began to overhear the loud argument brewing from the Commander's office.

"Captain Nuremberg, I don't care if those orders came from NUHC. Alright... I'll be leaving you in charge of the portion of the Scouting Fleet to secure District 12-A for the precautionary evacuation efforts. Meanwhile, I'll be taking charge of 4 ships from this Scouting Fleet to assist with the defense of New Krona. We're going to have to hold off the Smierc Collective from landing operations while you start the evacuation procedures anyways.

"Captain, as a Commander of the proud New Union Navy, I can't just allow New Krona to fall so easily. My forces will hold off the Smierc Collective's attack fleet for the New Kronan Defense Fleet to arrive. I'll also be sending off a major distress beacon for nearby system's fleets for assistance in the defense efforts. Is there a problem?"
"No sir."
"Good, I'll leave you to your evacuation. You are dismissed..."

With that, the Captain walked out of the office looking tired. He could already tell the situation was going to get a lot more complicated now that the Commander was invoking his powers to summon fleets.

Meanwhile, the Commander let the bridge crew patch a new announcements to the Sabre Corps aboard the NUSS Artemis III.

"Sabre Corps, this is Commander Perez speaking. As you may know, there have been orders for the Scouting Fleet to assist with the evacuation of District 12-A as a result of the Smierc Collective's invasion of New Krona. I, for one, find that order to be repulsive for any honorable officer of the New Union Navy. The NUSS Artemis III will lead 3 other ships to help defend New Krona against the Smierc Collective for as long as possible until the New Kronan Defense Fleet arrives. Get prepped for a boarding Sabre Corps! Commander Perez out..."


Adrian

I led Fireteam Nexus out to the hangar as Miller said. This operation does indeed go above whatever ranks and insignia we had, and I can't complain. If the NUHC issued the order, there's nothing much else to be done...

"Morrison, the new Corporals are looking a bit tired out. Should I let them rest a bit before we get ready for the op?"
"Yeah, go do that Sergeant Amis. Don't want them to be too zoned out from one firefight, can we?"
"Roger that Captain..."

For some reason, I felt as though Amis respected me for a second there. Seems like the survival of all members of Fireteam Nexus makes him trust me more than before, although I'm not counting on him calling me Captain and being chummy yet.

That's when the announcement came from the Commander himself. Apparently, we're not going to abandon New Krona quite yet. We're going to defend New Krona to hold out for the Defense Fleet. That's good news to me!

 

[LoneSniper87]

"All right! Now that everyone is here we can begin." I said, a second later hearing the Commander's new orders. "Well that throws a wrench in the works... New plan everyone! Looks like we are flying and disabling Smierc Collective ships! Here is what we need. We have a good bit of us here per Fireteam, so here is the idea. We split each Fireteam into two teams, one lead by their Captain, the other lead by their Sergeant. We don't have a lot of time, the Smierc are preparing and assualt and we need to hold out until the Defense fleet arrives. Make the boys up top proud!" I added on a final note, then turned to add ine more thing.

"Space-worthy suits, be prepared for hull breaches! Can never be too prepared!" I shouted, then turned and walked out of the hangar, heading to my room to grab my spare helmet, this one having the entire face being a shatter-resistant one-way glass material. I changed my chestpiece, this one having no holes and perfectly intact, and put it on. I then put on the new helmet, it locked into my armor with a mechanical hiss, ensuring it was airtight. I then headed back out into the hangar, "Katherine, you rolling with me?" I asked, glancing at her.

(Btw for my new temporary/possibly permanent helmet it is similar in design to a Spartan Evo helmet.)

 

[Perambulation]

LoneSniper87

(Feels weird for your character to be barking orders to form squads that are outside of Fireteams. Fireteams are extremely close-knit groups, and will have the necessary composition for combat in all cases. Let's just go by existing Fireteams, with those without Fireteams temporarily joining other ones)

 

[Henrypika]

Katherine

My ears perked up in an instant as I listened to the new orders coming in through the PA. So we weren't giving up New Krona... "Damn, make up your mind people!" I yelled with a grin, as I made my way to my room to get a spare set of armor, and to make sure no one can hear me. First thing first before the op however. Gotta phone home, get some extra tech, including some small grid-teleporters, and uh... maybe some extra fire support.

"Hey, bro? Can you get me some teleporters to attach to my guns? I need about..." I counted my magazines and weapons, "10. Also, can we get some extra fire support too? Keep the Smierc defenses busy. We're boarding them, so don't go sending lasers straight through their armor, though their weapons are the exception."

"Gotcha sis." The area above my open handed glove began to glow as 20 chips with one side of them sticky appeared in my hand, coming in first as a grid pattern, before fully materializing. "You make sure you don't fall out there. Those are some crazy bastards..." He was referring to one of the reports I sent him describing the Smierc's brutal ways of killing people.

The sound of familiar crafts coming out of hyperspace and kick starting their engines flooded my ears, and judging by the volume... around 20 to 30. "That extra firepower you requested has just warped in, with allied militia markers, so don't worry about informing your superiors. Good luck out there."

"Thanks." I had just gotten to my armor rack, with the spare still hanging there, clean and untouched, blue, silentium... or was it silentanium... vessels coursing around the limbs, before ending where the S-Node was. Too bad it's for nothing because I don't use Silentium or whatever it's called, though I just could be secretly using it and I just don't know. I quickly undressed, stripping the armor, leaving me clad in a blood-spotted, white t-shirt, and underwear, before taking the spare and equipping it, slowly, so I don't crush my tail.

Afterwards, I dressed into my normal clothes before yanking my rifle off the bed, slapping one of the teleporters onto the narrow backside of the receiver, just under the bolt, and then another under the Type-BM, and then one for each of my magazines, including the magazines already loaded in the guns. I didn't bother to apply one to my katana because I already had one locked onto that. With most of that done, I took the space mask, custom made for me, and me only, and stared at it, with it's thin, but surprisingly ballistic-proof 'glass' and breathing apparatus that's too complicated to explain, for a good long time, before finally putting it on. I won't be able to breathe fire without destroying the mask, but at least I won't suffocate if we get tossed out of an airlock amiright?

Properly 'refitted', and ready for some therapeutic Smierc ass whooping and abdominal crushing, I made my way down to Miller's part of the bunks in time to hear her ask if I was going to accompany her, "Yes ma'am." I replied, surprised I wasn't the least bit tired, even after the running and fighting. Though I still feel a little bit bad where I got my cramp...

 

[An Khang]

Once the announcements were made, I broke off from the rest to get my spacesuit, in my personal ship. I went into the cockpit, and started some old music. I decided to stitch myself up, since I was there. I took out a rag, tweezers, and a surgical sewing kit from my medkit. I removed my chestplate and unbuttoned my shirt halfway, giving me full access to the wound. I disinfected the wound with a rag and pulled out the crystals, now dead, with the tweezers. I clogged the blood with the rag as I stitched the holes. Once stitched, I stretched my shoulder to stop the soreness and test the strength of the stitches. I put my stuff back on and refilled my ammo supply.

I opened my closet, took out the old suit. It was primitive, like everything else I had, but it worked. I peeked outside the cockpit as I was locking my helmet in place, seeing them still set up. I exited my ship with a miniature tool kit, to upgrade my laserfanner, to kill the time while everyone else was setting up.

 

[LoneSniper87]

"It's Ashley." I responded, smiling a bit. A leaned against the wall and sat down against it, my arms resting in my knees and forming almost a barrier around my rifle. "And at least this helmet won't get screwed up like the last, yeah?" I asked, looking over at her. "And those ships outside... You know 'em? I saw a few streak by... Friendly tags but I can't place them..." I said, looking up as another one came by.

 

[Henrypika]

Katherine

"Probably just local voluntary militia." Damn, why did we make the paint all uniform and everything? "I might know some of the pilots. Just not all of them..." At a second glance, some had no one in the cockpit. Remote control. Another kind of tech not everyone could compare to. Probably to protect the commander in charge if he prefers to get in on the action, which I didn't doubt for a second. Hell, I'd go for a little dogfighting action too.

Another group of armed civilian craft came in from off the planet as well, though not my brother's, they still had their friendly tagging on them. I think people were starting to come around now that they know that even people they've never met are now helping them out. That, or they're getting the hell away from their homes.

 

[Kabboom]

Joachim

I heard their 'order'. Most of it went right out of my mind the instant it enters my eardrums and gets processed into something I would understand. Until, the word 'boarding' popped into my mind. My fiery tantrum of insults for the New Union was halted instantly at what it meant for the operation: we're going on the offensive for once. After all, it was like that guy from way the fuck ago, Sunny Zoo or something? Whatever his name was, he said something that stands true for everything: "Sometimes, the best defense is a good offense."

I lifted my head, brightening up to the idea. Miller rallied all the people in the hangar, and gave a briefing. Mentioned something about hull breaches and space worthy suits. Good idea. My suit already is decently space-worthy, but everyone else should probably get one, just in case. I headed off to find a ship that I could commandeer for my use, as a decent amount of 'friendly' aircraft teleported out of seemingly nowhere. "That extra firepower you requested has just warped in, with allied militia markers, so don't worry about informing your superiors. Good luck out there." came out of my comms. Oh. So they're with Katherine. Okayyyyy...

As my Fireteam returned, donning space-worthy masks, with the two Corporals donning full suits. I guess it's something to do with the new-blood syndrome, where you follow protocol, regardless of whether it makes sense or not. To be honest, we looked like a pack of badasses, heading to crack open an entire star or something, what with the appearance of the masks that they picked. Dav probably started this, and the others followed suit. Or maybe we all think the same. Either way, the skull/gas-mask design makes us look so much more fucking awesome.

We put our feet on a 'ram ship', as my fellow Sabre Corps used to call them, back when I was still in them. And back when they were still alive. Let's not dwell on the past. Everyone buckled up, as Dav and I entered the cockpit. I assumed control of the craft, Dav being my trusty co-pilot. We went through the start-up protocol, easy enough, since we had training on our gunship.

We took it out, regardless of whether Katherine or Miller or Command ever agreed on a time to mass deploy. As we sped out of hangar, we put ourselves in harm's way, as a mix of fighter aircraft filled the air (or space), along with projectiles from the ships' weapon systems. Point-defense systems annihilating Smierc fighters, missiles colliding with these... 'reinforcements' from Katherine's people as soon as they wandered into range. Armed civilian craft either fleeing or taking the fight to the Smierc, with a ragtag bunch of weapons onboard. Most of them have either a duty to uphold against the New Union, or a dedication to run away. I had other motives, however. Mostly being pride. Some being rage. And all being in the pursuit of killing scum.

We try to make our way through the chaos, as projectiles flew all over us, scraping our fuselage, hull, wings, everything. A small hole was pierced in the middle part of our fuselage, and the hissing of the air as it was sucked out into the blank nothingness lasted for a while, before dissipating as the air supply within the vessel ran out. Everyone was wearing their masks, though, so no big deal. Our oxygen supply could last 60 minutes at a full tank. Good thing.

One of the enemy ships, a cruiser or an escort frigate or whatever, I don't know, smaller than the big ones, entered my sights, with its point defense weapons blasting away at me. I had a plan in my mind, as I accelerated to top speed, directly at the bridge. I glanced at Dav, the same thing seemingly on our minds.

I yelled on the comms. "BRACE FOR IMPACT!" The inhabitants of the ship, me included, held on to our seats, our magnetic latches the only thing holding us from flying into the wall opposite us and breaking our necks. I had one hand on the steering device, whilst my other hand reaches for my Strajk, in anticipation of contact after impact.

 

[An Khang]

I moved to my fireteam, standing just outside their huddle. A few of them gave a quick "Hey, Joe," but quickly forgot about me, understandably. We've just been attacked, and minutes after we're gonna counter. They've gotta focus.

I was screwing in a bigger battery to my gun when I asked, "Which ship are we going in?" I honestly just wanted to use my own ship, which was old, but still really agile. Either way, I wanted the best approach to this. Astro combat isn't the same as shooting with two feet gravitated to the ground.

 

[Henrypika]

Katherine

I looked outside to find a few of the reinforcements blown to space dust, followed by, "FUCK! I lost!" something heavy slamming a hard surface. Knowing my brother, he won't be surprised some of our crafts had been destroyed. Then again, it's not like he'll like it either.

"Hey, Ashley? Mind if I pilot our boarding vessel?" I can feel the adrenaline rush from the upcoming flight, especially since I take a controller instead of actually being in the cockpit. I still had my share of interstellar combat in a fighter, just that it stopped when we realized it was pretty dangerous to be in such a fragile ship, and I started piloting frigates or battleships at best.

 

[LoneSniper87]

"You a good pilot?" I asked Katherine, watching one of the ships rise up and take off already, heading for the bridge of another ship. "Well there goes our tactic..." I mumbled, seeing now other ships would know the attack pattern. "You know what? Pilot us, I trust you." I added. I then turned to my team, or what was left from what my Sergeant grabbed. "Alright ladies and gentlemen! Get into the ship and prepare for a boarding assualt! Keep your weapons ready, and dear God hold onto something!" I said, then grabbing my rifle and heading to the ship.

 

[Trappy]

Daelen
It was there, in the middle of the cold, dark vacuum of space, with flashing pulses of energy weapons and projectiles all around us, I questioned our presence and actions. What the hell are we doing - I asked myself. We probably looked like a mindless, suicidal bunch. But of course, there was no turning back at that moment. I witnessed some sort of miracle there, as somehow, we made it through the chaotic "no man's land", nonono, No Man's Space. It was either Joachim's piloting skills that got us through the volleys of projectiles from the ships' point-defence weapon system and plasma pulses, or God himself smiled upon us. Now I was nowhere close to being superstitious, and I doubt the mad dog had any idea, let alone his skills. In short, I assumed my good friend was consumed by the bloodlust.

As we narrowly dodged a burst of point-defence fire, Joachim steered the ship towards one of the Smierc frigates escorting the battleships, and aimed for its bridge. I knew what the man was planning, I just know him too well. Securing my magnetic holster, I pushed the throttle levers all the way forward as Joachim gave us a perfect target with his magnificent piloting skills. Joachim yelled into the comms, and I held onto the control board, bracing for the ram.

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

There was a hard, sudden jolt, but it was swift and somewhat satisfying. We penetrated the Smierc frigate' hull plating and went straight into the bridge. Unfortunately, my expectation was let down. No one was sucked out into the vacuum of space due to hull depressurisation, as the blast shield was deployed almost instantly. It was a big boo, but what do we expect from an advanced interstellar empire. The crew was dazed, of course, so we were lucky not to meet heavy suppressive fire. That was quite a ram, our cockpit was busted open. But there was no time to look through the damage of the ship. I sprayed my Dzida at the Smierc crew, getting them by surprise. Some of the Smierc made futile attempts to flee, as they were quickly mowed down by Joachim and I. Soon enough, we cleared the bridge.

Everyone quickly exited the dropship. Joachim rushed towards the navigation - weapons control panels, and the man attempted to hack into the ship's system, redirecting Smierc weapons and point defence system. I followed to help my friend, while Parkins and the Coporals got in position to push off the security force.

As we expected, Smierc troopers flooded the floor. Although Joachim hacked the blast doors and sealed the bridge, it was only a matter of time until they break in. A sudden bang could be heard from the other side of the door, staggering all of us. Clearly, they were attempting to retake the bridge.

"You better do something about that, Parkins!" - I yelled as I squinted my eyes at the control panel. All control were in Smierc, but luckily, we had some experience with these.

"On it!" - said Parkins, as he hand-motioned the two corporals into positions.

"C'mon now, you piece of shit!" -Joachim smashed his hands on a monitor.

And they broke in. The blast door was blown at least a metre across the room, and the blast sent the Corporals to the floor. Crystal bolts flew all around us, but as soon as they blown down that door, they were welcomed by sprays and volleys of Holo-bolts, dropping a good amount of the charging security guards.

I successfully overrode the weapons' targeting system. The guns were targeting other Smierc vessels, catching them by surprise, and the point-defence system were targeting Smierc missiles and fighters instead of ours. Unfortunately, despite having the element of surprise, we were not able to deal any significant damage to the battleships. Well, you can only expect an escort frigate to accomplish so much. I looked over to Joachim, offering help.

"GO! I GOT THIS!"- The man yelled in response as he fired his Strajk one handed into the door, dropping one guard and forcing another to take cover.

I dashed over and took cover behind a broken control panel, and fired back at the guards, who were seemingly attempting a push. Suddenly, a Berserker charged into the room, but was knocked down to the ground with a quick, low horizontal kick from Corporal Danielle, who just came to his senses. I quickly eliminated the Berserker. A pack of grenades was spotted on his waist, and they were armed. Shit! A suicide bomber!

"NADES! RUN!"

The corporals quickly got up and dashed for cover. One of them, Corporal Jonathan was still dazed by the blast. I was sure we were going to lose him, until Parkins jumped in as the hero to save the day. The man lifted the Corporal up with his strong arm and duck for cover. Flash. The grenades detonated, killing another 2 guards who were charging into the room. Shrapnel, dust, blood and rubble went everywhere. It appeared some shrapnel hit Parkins' prosthetic leg, "Not this time, huh . . ." - I heard him said quietly, covered in rubble.

But the fight did not end. Utilising the advantage as we were forced to move back for cover from the grenades' blast, the Smierc pushed in, with 3 Dzida wearers leading the push. As soon as they entered the bridge, they sprayed crystal bolts everywhere, forcing Joachim to duck. Parkins and Jonathan peeked and they emptied their magazines on one of the Dzida heavies, dropping him quickly. This got the attention of the other two heavies, as they turned towards Parkins and the Corporal and suppressed them with waves of crystal bolts. The other Corporal, on the other side of the room peeked and wounded one of the heavies with his volleys of Holo-bolts. Almost at the same time, me and Joachim peeked and unleashed our firepower upon the two heavies, killing the wounded one.

The Smierc were known for their aggressive behaviour, and here we witnessed that. The last Dzida wearer dropped his machine gun as soon as his comrade fell. He dashed towards Joachim, knocking off control panels and equipment. I tried to get between the two and stop him with my strength, but was sent flying by a sudden vertical kick. He grabbed Joachim by the neck and pulled the pin off one of the grenades Joachim had on his chest. Just as he was about to throw my friend away like a bomb, I dashed behind the heavy and my hand went through his belly, while Joachim summoned his Claymore and slashed the Smierc's arm off, elbow-down. Blood, life-support fluids as well as other Smierc fluids gushed out upon us. Disgusting.

Perhaps it was panic, that my friend took the grenade off his chest and threw it away, which accidentally hit the blast shield and detonated. We quickly activated our magnetic boots, standing in place, as our oxygen tanks began the countdown until they're empty. The remaining Smierc brutes in the room were caught by surprise, and flushed out into the dark, cold, lifeless vacuum of space. The bridge was secured, for now. We quickly looted the bodies and waited for new orders.

 

[Henrypika]

Katherine

"Yea, I've had my experience flying fighters and the occasional frigate, battleship, and carriers." I replied, eyes staring out into the frigate that Joe and Daelen along with the rest of their boarding team, which once was tagged as SC Frigate, now was tagged as NU Frigate. They must have captured the ship.

As always, someone other than my brother, presumably one of his employees, calmly said, "Ship captured." over my private communications, though I did hear cheering in the background. I smiled slightly at the tide slowly turning, and the thought of operating a battleship with nothing more than a boarding crew was out of the question, but without a doubt, capturing was possible. Just a pain to do so.

 

[LoneSniper87]

"Ok, go hop in the cockpit. I'm Co-ing for this one untl we board." I told, walking toward the ship along with the rest of her Fireteam, but heading to the Navigator's chair instead. My sergeant's ship lifted off and headed toward the next enemy frigate, but were unable to avoid the attacks and were blown apart withing 500 feet of the enemy craft. "Shit!" I hissed under my breath, my fists clenching and slamming into the wall next to me.

My breathing got heavier as I tried calming down, my head falling forward as a few tears came down. "Fuck..." I mumbled. This was the second time now one of my sergeants was thrown into danger, and this time they died. Now not only had they tried taken my life, but taken the lfe of one good person too many. Now my vendetta against these bastards felt like it went from a campfire to a blazing inferno. "Dav, Y'all good on that bridge?" I asked, my voice still composed, but sounding more serious and edges of anger creeping out from it.

 

[Henrypika]

Katherine

"Hmm..." I studied the controls, pretty simple. "Looks easy enough." I looked up, sitting down before turning around to see everyone seated, rather nervous or surprised that, for one, I probably had more experience than them, rank aside, and two, this is a foreigner they're trusting their lives to. The fear was understandable, but not comforting to me.

"All clear for takeoff." I gripped the controls, slamming a familiar feeling lever forward, increasing the thrust until rails on the underside gave way, and magnets pulled us forward like some sort of rail driver, rocketing us out of the hangar, in a less than fast transport/boarding vessel.

The speed was exciting nonetheless, as we weaved through the countless missiles, while taking a few grazing hits from bullets and lasers, no doubt Smierc AAs in an attempt to take us down. I constantly had to keep reminding myself that this was a transport and not some agile fighter that can dodge every blow, though a good solid hit rattled me back to make me permanently remember that.

We went straight for a Smierc frigate, as I rotated the ship to the side at around 90 degrees clockwise to squeeze past the wreckage of a destroyed Smierc destroyer, based on size, at top speed, the wreckage effectively shielding us from a few hits before coming out.

"Brace for impact!" I yelled, a few more lasers dinging us in multiple places before reflecting off, though the bullets were a different story, as they left holes as they came through the reinforced paneling in the bow as we came in hot, slamming into the port side of the bridge at a shallow angle, causing the craft to skid across the floor, leaving a good sized trench, and crushing multiple Smierc crew, bouncing a little bit off of the wall, leaving us with a gap to stand which could make for pretty good cover. Aren't I lucky or what?

 

[LoneSniper87]

I dashed out from the cockpit and out the back of the ship with the rest of the team, them hopping down into the makeshift trench and firing on the Smierc, while I took a vantage on top of the ship and took aim, quickly and carefully picking off the highest threat to the team. Soon more and more showed up and I realized we weren't as lucky with our placement, this was going to be an uphill battle.

 

[Henrypika]

Katherine

Seeing that Ashley got out unscathed along with the rest of the team, I get out of my seat, taking my rifle off of my back, and priming a magazine with fire for a great muzzle flash and hardcore incendiary action, firing a few rounds into the oncoming horde of Smierc soldiers, each shot blinding to the eyes, the round exploding on hitting the Bio-field, before the AP blew their head into pieces. You can see some of the charred grey matter sprayed everywhere.

"I know I'm a hypocrite when I say this but we need the ship functionable, not too much collateral damage, but small explosives should be fine. Ashley, you know how to work this stuff?" I pointed at the bridge console, despite the crystal-bolts going straight over the trench and bombarding the crap out of the transport. The fuel cell is dead, so I don't have to worry about blowing it up, but...

Unfortunately, I wasn't the only one with explosive rounds, which I found out when a Berserker came in guns a blazing, a stray round exploding on impact and leaving a huge hole in the hull of the transport. Idiot, doesn't he know he's going to destroy the ship he's trying to defend? "Never mind, orders please."

 

[LoneSniper87]

"Priotize targets of highest threat. Let us handle the rest. And yes I should be able to handle the ship once we control the bridge." I said, moving a hand to steady myself on the rocking transport. I timed my shot so that when one of my guys took a shot, mine went for the same target, so his could disrupt the bio-field and mine could take out the Smierc. The battle went on for five or so minutes, and halfway through I hopped off the transport and went to ground level.

We finally had control of the bridge and pushed the remaining Smierc out the door and sealed it. I ran to the bridge and quickly commandeered it. "Ship captured Commander, orders?" I asked, looking at the controls, quickly studying them and learning what they did. "Tex, try and cut off life support, if you can't at least disable gravity." The A.I. Went to work on the systems, the gravity switching off as we started to float. "Mag boots on ladies and gentlemen, but be ready to release, zero-g combat works in our favor if we are in the air." I said.

 

[Henrypika]

Katherine

"Hmm... Zero gravity is certainly fun." I said, locking my boots onto the floor and my eyes on the steadily floating Berserker, caught off guard from the lack of gravity before kneeling down, rifle slung and blade drawn. "But what goes up..."

I seemingly disappeared, running past my opponent at five different angles, as light caught up, leaving five projected images, "...must come down," finally coming at him one at a time, before I sprung at him again, stabbed him in the gut before jumping up, flinging him up, and the blade following in an uppercut fashion.

His Bio-field didn't stand a chance against five heavy attacks at close quarters, let alone the finishing blow, which was evident by how badly mutilated his body was from the first five, and the last split his body into two equally sized pieces. Blood splattered the floor.

"So anyway, how long will that door last?" I said, checking my oxygen meter, which had its needle at around 2/3s the way. We've been at this for around 20 minutes or so, or my last combination of attacks took up a lot more of my breath than I thought.

 

[Perambulation]

DM

"Commander, Captain Nuremberg has exited the NUSS Artemis III via shuttlecraft. He will arrive at the other portion of the Scouting Fleet to head the evacuation efforts in about 10 minutes."
"Good to hear that. Now, let's get down to business. Bridge, get prepped for a combat maneuver. Relay the maneuver coordinates to the NUSS Diana II and the NUSS Apollo. We need to start a focused strike on one of their outlying ships of the attack fleet."

That was when the Commander got notified from a panicked bridge crew member of an unannounced dropship departure from the main hangar. IFF scans indicated that Fireteam Comet had commandeered the dropship and headed directly to one of the Smierc Collective frigates. Another dropship quickly followed suit, although in a more controlled manner compared to the wild flight of Fireteam Comet.

"Well, that didn't take too long. All troops, prepare for boarding operations. Report to your designated dropships and await the signal to launch. Sabre Corps and Twisted Wolf operatives have been launched ahead to secure a safe boarding point for the rest of you New Union Marines."

With that, the Commander ordered the maneuver to be executed, leading the three ships of the Scouting Fleet to start unraveling into a complex spiral to avoid enemy fire, while also firing off multiple railgun rounds and missiles towards the enemy attack fleet to keep on damaging it. The Commander also ordered the drone fighters to be launched first to harass the Smierc's anti-air systems, as he did not want to risk human pilot lives just yet.


Adrian

To my surprise, Corporal Miller and Katherine, alongside the entirety of Fireteam Comet, launched from the hangar without any hesitation on their part, despite not being given explicit orders to do so. Meanwhile, over the PA system, an announcement was made for troops to head to their dropships and prepare for boarding. Looks like we'll be getting ready to launch an attack of our own, at least until the New Kronan Defense Fleet arrives.

"Sergeant Amis, let's get the new Corporals back here. We need to get them prepped for the next assault."
"Roger that Captain."

Well, that's a bit of a nice gesture by Amis. Anyways, the new Corporals, Seidel and Carboni, both appeared to still be a bit shook from the earlier boarding attempt by the Smiercs. I snapped a finger in their faces to get their rapid attention.

"Was that your first real firefight? Well, I'm sorry to say that it doesn't get much better out here. Don't worry. As long as you stick with the group, we should be able to get out of the enemy ship without trouble. Understood?"
"Yes sir.", both of the Corporals answered.

Meanwhile, I managed to get some more ammo for Fireteam Nexus, having requested the nearby resupply robot for a supply cache. I quickly checked my HoloRifle and AutoPistol to make sure they functioned. They're still reliable, as they've always been for the soldiers of the Sigma Sector. These HoloRifles have been in use in some form or another for two centuries now, and there's no way they'll fail on us now.


(People onboard the Smierc Collective's ship, please make an acknowledgement that you guys will also prepare a clear path for the rest of the boarding party to arrive.)

 

[Kabboom]

Joachim

Whew. That was a very, very close one. I had a few flashbacks to that one fight on Yabrao. Thought it was gonna be a case of karma having its way. But thankfully, my brother in arms, Davo, had my back, with his hard-to-pronounce move. A bit sad I blew up the blast shield, though. Though I did panic a bit.

For now, the bridge was clear. Those were the closest security forces on hand, and the door was sealed with a blast door to boot, due to the depressurization. It'll at least take them some time to get in. My magnetic boots automatically deployed. I got back on my feet, aided by Davo pulling me up. A shitty thing about space combat: No heat. It's like, absolute zero out here in space. Or something. Maybe not always. But whatever heat's left in this bridge, it's been cooled down to the point that I would lose more energy trying to absorb them than I would by gaining them. And it's only through radiation that I could absorb them. And that's a slow-ass process.

But alas, there was no time for a science lesson about heat transfer. There was a war going on. A bloody one, at that. I got back on the control panels, now charred with the recent explosion. The weapon control panel was blown in half, as a piece of the blast shield embedded itself horizontally within the panel. All I had was the navigation.

"We're fine, Miller. We're sending this frigate into one of the big ships. Over." I heard my friend reply to Miller, as I engaged full throttle. The guns on my ship didn't stop firing at enemy ships, however, knocking Smierc fighters out right and left. Some of the hits splashed the big ships too, but it didn't look like they did any damage.

Just then, the door behind me blew open, sucked out by the pressure difference, narrowly missing my head and smashing another window, prompting another blast shield closing. This time, out came Mortus Troopers. With proper magnetic boots. I duck down, as crystal bolts started flying. It was a total firefight in that room, eerily quiet, due to the nature of space. This lack of sound messed me up more than I thought it would, because I've never had to fight in vacuums. First time for everything, I guess.

A Mortus Knight immediately charged for Parkins and the Corporal to our left. A stray shot hit the Corporal's gun, making him drop it. As a result, the rifle floated in zero-gravity, with a crystal bolt embedded in its side. If we could hear it, it would've made a sizzling noise. The Corporal was okay, though, as he retreated to cover, drawing his sidearm. Parkins blind-fired his weapon, disabling the thing's Bio-Field. As it rounded the corner, with Arm Blades deployed, Ex-Sgt. Parkins used his robotic arm to deflect the incoming slash, and empties the rest of his magazine into the thing's abdomen, killing it. Another Mortus Knight turned to fire at Parkins, but was disrupted by the other Corporal, to our right, firing into his back, disabling his Bio-Field with the entire magazine. As the Knight turned to fire on his attacker, Parkins tore off the deceased Knight's arm and somehow achieved enough velocity in zero-G, with his robotic arm, to throw the Arm Blade through the Knight's head, killing it.

More Mortus Knights poured through, including a Dziki-wearer. These bastards just keep coming, as Parkins and the two Corporals form a crossfire, blocking the entrance with a hail of holo-bolts. Somehow, a Dziki-wearer made it through, by hiding behind the deceased corpses of his fellow Knights in a foolish charge, making his way all towards us.

Dav and I fired our machine guns at it, but it appears that this one's Bio-Field was a bit stronger, as we had only disabled half of its Bio-Field with our combined firepower before it smacked my gun out of my hand, whilst smacking Davo in the head with its mangled machine gun, disabled by a holo-bolt during its charge.

It was using its destroyed machine gun as a fighting stick, or whatever you call it. It swung at my face, but I managed to duck below and dodge it. I drew my holo-machete, deciding that a fire-based weapon in a vacuum wasn't going to do me good. I came for a diagonal slash upwards, closing into the Smierc. It used its other hand, the one it smacked my weapon away with, to push me backwards, somehow knocking me off my feet even with my mag-boots on.

Davo then regained both consciousness and balance, and fired the rest of his magazine into the thing's back, disabling its Bio-Field, as it walked towards me to finish me off. The thing turned back, and threw its machine gun at Davo, throwing off his sight and messing with his abilities to reload. A torrent of crystal bolt fire suppressed him, as the Mortus Knights fired out of the door in support of their brother in arms. The Corporal on our right responded by chucking a grenade into the door, wounding them and forcing a retreat.

I leap onto the Smierc as it turned to face me, and my holo-machete goes through its hand, as it reaches up to block my slash. The thing headbutts me again and again, as it held me with the other hand. Davo dropped his machine gun and used his ability, Spear Hands, yet again, to stab the thing in the back, making it roar in pain. Must be quite tiring for him.

It drops me, as it turns around to face Davo, but it is stopped by a hail of holo-bolts from the rest of Fireteam Comet. Its muscles spasmed, its still-alive body reacting to the individual projectiles piercing its armor, as it roared in pain. The other Mortus Knights return, coming to the aid of their dying brother, and taking us all out. But it was all too late for them, as we collided with our target.

Davo and I held onto our guns, luckily, before the impact could throw them out. The Dziki-wearer was thrown out as a result of its armor system losing power, probably due to the Focus Crystal getting shot to shit, puncturing the blast shield, and flying into the empty vacuum of space, along with the rest of the Mortus Knights. Some held on, before being summarily executed with a burst of my Strajk, plus some creative blind-firing from the Corporals and Parkins.

My calculations have gone according to plan. Our frigate has rammed into another Smierc ship, a battleship or a destroyer this time. Much larger than our tin can. I had targeted it due to its close proximity to us, and due to its weapon systems looking like it could do some damage to the enemy ships, as it demonstrated to me by firing a devastating volley at one of our ships.

The nose of the frigate has crashed into the hangar, destroying many Smierc fighters and killing a considerate amount of Smierc crews and boarding soldiers, I'd like to assume. The bridge that we were in was snapped off by the inertia, and was now flying at one of the weapon turrets.

"EVACUATE! EVERYONE OUT!" I yelled, as I activated my magnetic boots to get out through the hole in the blast shield, and boosting myself away from this accelerating wreck. Everyone followed suit, thankfully. And then there we were, the entirety of Fireteam Comet, floating like frogs in zero-gravity, using our inertia to fly towards a nearby weapon turret, as the one we were heading towards was soon destroyed by the combined wreckage of a Smierc frigate's bridge and a New Union dropship.

As we were heading towards it, with point-defence guns narrowly scraping us, before being taken out by our boys in the air, I heard an announcement from our friendly local commander. "Well, that didn't take too long. All troops, prepare for boarding operations. Report to your designated dropships and await the signal to launch. Sabre Corps and Twisted Wolf operatives have been launched ahead to secure a safe boarding point for the rest of you New Union Marines."

Well, I didn't have any boarding in mind, but at least this'll be able to do damage to some ships, clearing a path for our boarding parties. That's what I thought to myself, at least, as we made impact with the turret, our magnetic boots fastening on to the surface. Nearby, a hatch opened, with one of the Smierc security forces popping out to fire at us from the side. He didn't take into account our impeccable reflexes, and the amount of holo-bolts we could dole out at him. His rounds decreased one of my Corporals' IRESS to half capacity, before he was shot to literal bits and pieces.

We headed towards the opened hatch, and proceeded inside. "Fireteam Comet here, we've taken out a Smierc frigate. Boarding a Smierc battleship now. We'll take over the weapon systems, and will clear a path for your boarding operations. Over." I said onto my comms, as we began depressurizing, our tanks running at 50 minutes until empty.

Wait, that was only 10 minutes?

 

[Lappi]

John Mieras
Just receiving the beacon, the small slightly stollen mining rig blasted through the empty space. John seeing a chance to get paid by the government. Hell, maybe even get pardoned.
The robotic voice on the mining ships intercom pops up. Robotic in nature. It was obviously a ship UI

'Warp drive deactivating'

"Great!, into the fray" the grizzled Merc looked behind his pilot's seat and to the 3 men in the back of the cockpit "Get on the mining lazers and brace for impact in approximately 5 minutes. Were taking down a battleship!" He laughs at the end of that. Ready to start this show
"Sir!" A younger voice. (Maybe 17 years old at the most)perked up "This is a mining ship. We don't have long range lazers"
"I hate to break it to you. But we're getting up close and personal"
The kid was going to say something but the rumbling of gunfire and ship scrap hitting the ships shields caused him to nearly fall over. Even 200 km away they battle rages on with gunshots missing and debris going across space
John's teeth clenched in anger. "I said arm the goddamn lazers. If you don't want to get paid take a damn pod! I don't have time to hear you complain"
The other 2 were already gone. One of which at the engine core making sure everything stayed functional.
The other was on an Lazer. Warning it up and preparing for drilling.
Some of the small autocannons on the side meant to shoot large missiles down started to target the mining ship

The Merc radioed into the ships who set out the beacon. Wether it be destroyed, a capital ship, or whatever . "Checking, checking." He pauses for a split second. Just long enough to let him take it in the case the bridge captain was focused on something else. "John Mieras of the Twisted Wolves reporting. Send me my funds later, and don't shoot me"

Considering he is a wanted criminal and has a hefty bounty on his head that might have not been the best decision. But having a Nova missile blasting at his ship because some shiny new pilot thought a mining rig was coming right for him. Perambulation

John's voice rang out on the intercom of the ship "Get in the pods if you like having more than an 20% chance of survival, stay here if you want more than 2% of the cut"
His voice cut out to the 'android' like voice of earlier
"Drive core initialized.... Direction.... North.... Targeted position.... 200KM. Danger, Smierc combat ships detected in Warp area. Proximity threat scan initiated. 0.00 kilometers away from Warp coordinates.
Warp core firing in 3. 2. 1 "
The ship was aimed for an outlining capital ship. One that had no one in the sabre or twisted wolves embarking or boarding. This ship was Meant to reinforce the main attacking fleet, taking it out would cripple any counter attack. Not an huge blow, but a capital ship like a Battleship would defiantly slow them down. And maybe give the Sabre corps some breathing room
(First post. Tell me if I need to change anything. Sorry if I did mess up something, still new )